CAPE CARTERET -- An area mother has been charged with driving while impaired following a Wednesday night wreck that injured her four children, two critically, police said.

Tonya Gillikin, 28, of Swansboro has been charged with DWI and other charges are pending, Cape Carteret Police Chief Don Miller said Thursday.

Miller said Gillikin was traveling westbound on N.C. 24 coming into town and went left of center, losing control of the 2007 Dodge van she was driving. The van flipped across the highway several times and came to rest in a parking lot near Lejeune Road,

One of the children was thrown from the van and pinned underneath it. First responders and by-standers on the scene pushed the vehicle off the child.
Her four children -- twin 15-month old girls and two boys ages 2 and 3 -- were in the van with her as well as well as passenger Nathan Henninger, 33, whose address wasn't immediately available.

Miller said Henninger and the four children were transported to Carteret General Hospital in Morehead City. Henninger and one of the infants and the 2-year-old were airlifted from there to Vidant Medical Center in Greenville.

The two children airlifted to the hospital in Greenville were in critical condition Thursday morning, Miller said.

The other two children were treated at Carteret General Hospital but information on their condition or whether they were treated and released was not immediately available.

Gillikin was treated by emergency medical personnel at the scene but did not require treatment at the hospital, police said.
The wreck remains under investigation.